Television apparatus



C. L... ADAMS TELEVISION APPARATUS Dee. 17, 1935.

Filed Oct. 21, 1952 2 Sheets-Shet 1 3 rwemm Adamd 3 6 @hyioni S M A D A L c TELEVISION APPARATUS Filed Oct. 21, 1952- 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 17, 1935 UNITED STATES {PATIENT OFFICE TELEVISION APPARATUS Clayton Loftin Adams, Jacksonville, Fla, assignor of two-thirds to James S. Francis and onesixth to Bessie G. Francis, both of Jacksonville,

Fla.

Application October 21, -1932,'Serial No. 638,953

1 Claim.

been provided for perfecting analyzing and synthesizing images, these methods employing rotating disks or drums. Also various methods have been provided for concentrating the light of the optical system to insure sufficient brightness and to magnify'the image sufiiciently. These methods have not been altogether successful because it Was necessary for them to be very large in order to secure the proper number of light apertures, these apertures sometimes being lenses or mere holes. These systems moreover have made no attempt to produce an extremely finely detailed picture containing for example a minimum of 120,000 complete units or squares of light in one complete picture together with sufficient brilliance and magnified-sufiiciently. The minimum of 120,000 complete units is regarded by many leading authorities as necessary in order to produce sulficient detail in large views such for example as football games, horse races, etc. The attempts heretofore made to insure greater fields of View have also fallen short of success. In some of these attempts it had beenproposed to employ a combination of shutter disks and scanning drums to insure greater scanning fields. A disadvantage of this is that it requires two or more scanning elements and because of the divergent paths they do not permit equally effective light rays to issue from all parts .of the light aperture. Attempts to improve on these systems do not remove the necessity of two scanning elements. Furthermore systems as heretofore built dealing with the brilliance of the light source in the receiving apparatus have objectionable features. In present methods if the light source such as a neon tube is stationary then the scanning elements must employ a plurality of expensive lenses or other light concentrating members to secure sufiicient brilliance and size of the viewed image, or'else they must resort to simple light apertures such as holes without any light concentrating members. The result is a viewed image of extremely poor brilliance and one which does not lend itself to enlargement of the image with any degree ofsatisfaction. To overcome these defects the present system proposes first to provide a system of scanning wherein the above noted and other disadvantages are overcome and second to provide a light system in the receiving apparatus which overcomes the disadvantages of the present light systems. The objects above stated are provided by having one scanning member in the form of a circular drum and one light source member in the formof a rotatable flexible band having a plurality of neon tubes for reception or photo .5

electric cells for transmission both so designed that a commutator action associated with the general driving mechanism energizes andde-energizes each neon tube or photo electric cell as it passes through the light aperture thus allowing .10 the full amount of energy .to be expressed in the most concentrated form.

Other features and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which are made a part hereof and on which similar reference characters indicate similar parts,

Figure l is a view in elevation of a scanning device embodying the invention,

Figure2, a plan view of the scanning device,

Figure 3, an enlarged section on line .'33 of Figure 2,

Figure 4, a section on line 4-4 .of Figure 3, Figure 5, a detail view showing one element of the light translating apparatus consisting of a neon tube and its internal structure for reception, and

Figure 6, a view of a photo electric cell with its internal elements for transmission.

In the drawings numeral it indicates a suit- 0 ablebase for standards it and #2 which may be formed integral with the base. A scanning drum i3 is mounted on a spider frame it which in turn is mounted on a shaft M which is carried by the standard II. The lower end of the shaft l4 preferabiy rests upon a hearing it as shown. The scanning drum i3 is secured to the outer ends of the spiders it. To the upper end of the shaft M is secured a pulley ll which is driven by a belt it from a suitable motor. An arm i9 is rigidly secured to the standard l2 and on its upper end carries a shaft 29 upon which is mounted a drum 2i. Made integral with the arm 19 or'secured to it is-a second arm 22 upon which second arm ismounted a shutter 23. This shutter is positioned outside of the drum i3 but close to its periphery and is provided with an aperture 26 through which light is projected to or from a lens 25. The standard it also carries a shaft 26 upon which is mounted a drum 2'], the outer end of the shaft carrying a pinion 28. An arm 29 extends out from the standard ii and carries a shaft 30 upon which is mounted a worm Wheel 3| which is driven by a Worm 32 on the shaft I 4. The outer end of the shaft 30 carries a sprocket 33 u about which travels a sprocket chain 34 by means of which the sprocket 28 is driven from the sprocket 33 and at the same speed. A belt 35 is mounted upon the drums 21 and 2|. This belt carries a number of photo electric cells 36 or neon cells 31.

The apparatus just described in Figure 1 applies both as a sending and as a receiving apparatus. When used as a sending apparatus the photo electric cells 36 will beused and light will be projected through the lens 25 and the aperture 24, the light coming from the picture which is being transmitted. When used as a receiving apparatus the neon cells 31 will be used on the belt 35 and light will be projected from these cells through the aperture 24 and through the lens 25 to the screen upon which the picture is to be shown. The periphery of the drum I3 is provided with several series of holes arranged in spiral formation and equally spaced apart. An eflicient arrangement consists of three spirals each of which contains 100 holes or perforations 38. These holes are positioned an inch apart and the holes are preferably 1/ 100 of an inch in diameter. The second series of holes is positioned one inch below the first series and the lower series is one inch below the second series.

The neon cell 31 consists of a glass case or tube from which practically all air has been exhausted and the tube filled with neon gas. Positioned within the tube are four plates 39, 4|], 4|, and 42 to which are connected positive leads 43, 44, 45, and 46. These leads are sealed in the end of the tube at 41 and pass out of the tube and connect respectively with contacts 48, 49, 50, and 5|. The contacts 48, 49, 56, and 5| are positioned so as to engage corresponding contacts 52, 53, 54, and 55 which extend partially around the periphery of the drum 2|. The last named contacts are connected through wires 56, 51, 58, and 59 with corresponding contacts 6|], 6|, 62, and 63 and close circuit with suitable sending apparatus when the device is operating in transmitting a picture. Plates 65, 66, 61, and 68 are all connected by a common wire 69 which is sealed in the tube and passes out of the tube and is connected to contact 10. This contact engages a contact II on the drum I0 which latter contact is connected by wire 12 to a contact 13 on the periphery of the drum 64. The contact 13 with the leads thereto represent the negative circuit while the contacts 60, 5|, 62, and 63 are the four positive circuits.

The photo electric cell 36 is quite similar in appearance to cell 31. In this case the photo electric cell comprises a glass envelope or tube which is filled with argon or other gas. The anode I5 is connected by a wire 16 which is sealed in the end of the tube and this wire connects with a contact which engages the negative contact on'the drum 64 as shown in Figure 3. Photo electric cells 11, 1B, 19, and are simply small pieces of glass wire preferably 1/100 of an inch wide and one inch in length. These wires are impregnated with some alkali material such as potassium or caesium. Each of the photo electric cells is connected by wires 8|, 82, 83, and 84 which wires are sealed in the end of the tube and connected to contacts not shown but corresponding to the contacts 48, 49, 50, and 5| in Figure 3.

In operation the drum |3 will be driven at a suitable speed; for efficient operation the speed should be 45 revolutions per second. Since there are holes an inch apart, the circumference of the drum |3 will be exactly 100 inches. 7 By means of the driving connection to the shaft l4 and the belt 35 the belt 35 will be driven at a 5 speed which will move one of the tubes on the belt from the top to the bottom series of holes, i. e. with the series of holes positioned with their diameters one inch apart the belt 35 will be driven exactly three inches while the drum l3 makes three revolutions. The purpose is to have only one cell adjacent the perforations 38 at a time. As soon as the lower cell is leaving the last perforation on the drum the above cell will be coming into exposed relation with the perforation. It is understood that each neon tube or photoelectric cell has its four surfaces or light translating areas scanned horizontally, simultaneously. In other words, there are always four holes on any spiral, through which light is passing at one time, each of these four holes is allowing light to pass through itself, from the neon tube, or to the photo-electric cell.

A receiving apparatus which is similar in all respects to the sending except the difference in 25 the cells on the belt 35 will be driven at exactly the same speed as the sending apparatus. From the foregoing description and illustrations it will be seen that as the scanning drum is traversed the light translating member consisting of the 30 rotatable band will pursue a vertical course in direct timed relation to the drum. It is obvious therefore that there must be one complete vertical traversal of the light translating apparatus for each three revolutions of the scanning drum. 5 The pitch of the neon tubes or photo electric cells is very slightly off horizontal with the right hand end inclined about 1/100 of an inch toward the bottom of the rotating band. This is to allow one hole at a time to allow light to pass 40 through. The light therefore is concentrated fully in a very minute space without the use of lenses or other concentrating members.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in my device 5 without departing from the spirit of the invention and therefore I do not limit myself to what is shown in the drawings and described in the specification, but only as indicated by the ap-- pended claim.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

In a television system, a scanning device comprising a drum having a series of perforations arranged in spiral formation, means for rotating the drum at a fixed speed, a second drum rotatably mounted within the first named drum, a band mounted on said second drum, said band having a plurality of light sensitive cells positioned transversely thereon each of said cells having a plurality of light sensitive elements mounted therein each of said elements having connections with a contact on the belt, the said second drum having contact corresponding with those on the said 65 belt, means for moving the belt in timed relation with the rotation of the first named drum, the said cells being in contact with the said second drum for a predetermined fraction of a revolution of said second drum, substantially as set forth.

CLAYTON LOFTIN ADAMS. 

